Safety Dante Trader Jr. became the second Maryland football player to accept his invite to the Reese’s Senior Bowl, set for Feb. 3, 2025, at 2:30 PM. Trader Jr. joins wide receiver Tai Felton in the Senior Bowl while four other Terps were previously named to the preseason watch list.
Trader, a former three-star out of McDonogh (MD) in the 2021 cycle, became an immediate piece in the secondary rotation as a true freshman. His debut ultimately foreshadowed the rest of his career after he finished with a team-high five tackles vs. Howard before appearing in all but one game as a true freshman.
Trader would go on to start in all 35 games he was made available over the next two seasons, finishing in the top three in tackles in each season. As a senior, he was also named the Sept. 16 Big Ten Player of the Week after tying a career-high with 11 tackles against Virginia, in addition to his fifth and final interception of his college career. He ended his four-year career totaling 190 tackles, two TFLs, five interceptions, 20 pass deflections and one forced fumble across his four seasons.
“The experience over the years, Dante's got three years worth of experience,” head coach Mike Locksley said after the week one win vs. UConn. “Glen Miller can play nickel, can play safety, can play corner. His experience, four years experience there, you saw a bunch of the young guys. Number six, [Brandon] Jacob, gonna be a hell of a player for us. He got some great, meaningful snaps. The way that the safeties – they're like the quarterbacks on defense. And Dante has done a really good job of settling things down.”
Trader also earned All-American status in his lone season with the Maryland men’s lacrosse team back in 2023.
Trader was also named a semifinalist for the eighth annual Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award. A 2023 CSC Academic All-District member, Trader helped organize and lead the One Speed Backpack Drive last year, raising over $10,000 for it and supplying over 200 fully-loaded backpacks.
Trader was named a player to watch by the Reese’s Senior Bowl scouting team ahead of the USC game.
This could be the second straight year that a Terps safety ends up in Mobile. A year ago, Trader’s former teammate, Beau Brade, got the Senior Bowl invite because he was a good football player, but he eventually went undrafted after not running well at the Combine (but he did make the Ravens’ 53-man roster).
Trader is a quicker-than-fast athlete with good movement skills for the safety spot. His average size shows up at times in run support. However, he’s bursty downhill and not afraid to throw his body around. In coverage, he’s at his best in short zones, and he generally puts himself in a good position to make plays, which is why the majority of his eight career interceptions have come on tips and overthrows.
Trader is similar to Brade in the sense that he has solid Day three draftable tape, but he’ll likely need to run a decent 40 times (under 4.60) to hear his name called in April.
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